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Friday, January 19, 2018

As I was reading this, I was caught by just how bleak and depressing the world of magic is. It carried over to me almost immediately and I wondered if I was falling into a black spell.

But no, I think it was mostly just the world of this imagination.

When we're talking about the unkindness of magicians, it's a real dog-eat-dog life with some of the evilest requirements to keep the magic flowing I've seen, brought home even more because it's our modern world. The ending wasn't as bleak as most of the journey, thank goodness, but I was really struck by the effect.

I probably should have been in a different kind of mood when reading this. Maybe I should have been prepared for just how cutthroat it was, but that, in itself, isn't bad if that's what you're looking for. If the author intended it, then Howard succeeded very nicely.

That being said, I'm bogged down in a little bit of an existential horror by reading this. :) Bravo!

I have to wonder if it was just this book or whether the rest of Kat Howard's writing feels like this. The effect is marvelously disturbing. I just didn't want to be disturbed in quite this way, and so my enjoyment suffered. Alas.

Even so, it was interesting to find out exactly why the magic was failing. :)

Goodreads

That goblin was just the sweetest child emperor I've ever known. He was always courteous and polite, even when he was abducted. He was so centered and contained even during that that time he almost took the knife of that assassin. Do you...

Crowd of Bone
Sparse and perfect prose as poetry. Old tales piled upon myth and returning back to tale. If your bones could tell the tale through the ashes, they would step through the seasons. You would run in the clouds.
This is poet...

As always, the fight scenes are top-knotch, over the top, and satisfyingly overpowered. Oh, and new reveals for our MC's! Actual Limitations? Holy Crap! I never would have guessed!
As a side note, I'd like to point out that while I real...

So the Union bullies are back and are even more powerful and stupid than the last crew that came by. Who knew? Oh, at least they brought along an Elder who is gonna get betrayed, and hard, by Evil Villian #1. Convenient, eh? Who cares. T...

It was funny to see all of these uber-powerful characters pussyfoot around with each other, each one pretending to be perfectly normal humans. The kids were amusing in their own right, but it's always about the uber-powerful in the end.
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